Struggle for lab to lose weight

Hi, I walk dogs for a living and I was sooooo disheartened today when one of the labs put on weight in today's vet weight check. He's now booked in for a health check and blood tests in case something else is wrong. He's 9, neutered and 45ks. His owner and I have been trying to get his weight down for 4 mnths now and not a pound!!!. He's on chappie dried food after previously being on burns. Treats strictly limited. Poor boy is miserable from starvation rations. Any tips/suggestions?

He's obviously still being given more food than he needs, if he's putting on weight, unless there is a medical cause - which the health check should hopefully find. Does he get much exercise apart from walks - does he free run at all and for how long? When you say treats are strictly limited - how much does he get? My dogs get no treats at all, only their dinner and a couple of them could still do with dropping a bit of weight.

I tend to feed according to condition, if my dogs are heavier than they should be, I cut down, and vice versa.

He gets two Markies and a dental chew a day and one cup full of chappie. I'm worried cos his food has been vastly reduced and still he doesn't lose any weight. He is out with me for 1hr and half per day off leash. We play ball but not as much as we used to as arthritis kicking in. Rank rotten summer so not as much swimming as normal summers. As winter approaches the chances of significant exercise reduces. He's healthy and spritely otherwise. Drinks a lot.

Best wait and see if the blood tests show anything....

I have a 9 1/2 year old Lab who is also overweight. He is about 35kgs and should be more like 30kgs. They are such pigs and once they get over a certain age it gets REALLY difficult to shift that weight......mine isn't overfed and is exercised well too.

Thanks. Cheered me up a bit knowing someone is sharing the pain!

I had a flatcoat who was prone to being overweight no matter how little he was fed. I put him on Burns High Oats and it really took the weight off

If all the health tests come back ok, I would definitely look at a species appropriate diet - ie one without grains.

There's a little more info in our Dog Foods guide: Dog Food (bits on RAW Dog Food and Home-cooked Dog Food)

Much the same issues with collie here whose metabolism is damaged by years of starvation.

But you can challenge the metabolism too much by feeding too little. With collie I have stepped up eg vegetables to give her the satisfaction of a full belly without adding calories and she always has a raw meaty bone to be chewing on for the same reason. She is happy and at last is now fining down.

Almost never any processed kibble etc. ie no dog feed per se. I won't eat processed stuff and carry that over to the critters.

Some of the dental chews and biscuits are quite fattening so it could still be added calories. The owners could feed the fish skin treats instead which are nice and crunchy and non fattening and fill out the food with veg, carrots green beans etc. if appropriate.

I know with a friends dogs they are fed the minimal amount of actual dog food and I always wondered why they are so large when we feed the same food and her sack always lasted lots longer than mine. Then I saw a big box of bonios in her shopping basket and learned that they get lots and lots of scraps including not only bread but butter as well!

Our vets have a slimming club for pets run by the head nurse so that might be the way to go. I used to go to a boarding kennels run by a trainer/behaviourist and if his gundogs got a bit porky he would actually count out the bits of kibble for each meal so whoever fed them didn't accidentally go over and that usually worked.

Thank you so much for all your replies. Il keep you updated. Vets on thurs.